Co-producing EHCPs – A partnership with parents

Middlesbrough Council logo

Co-producing EHCPs – A partnership with parents

During the last Local Area SEND Inspection in 2019, feedback was provided by Ofsted to say that families were having greater involvement in discussion and decision-making about their children’s needs and how best to support them. In particular, that those families valued the opportunities for coproduction within the Education, Health and Care Plan process.

 

Since the inspection, the SEND Team along with all partners in Middlesbrough have continued to work to ensure that families are placed at the heart of the EHC plan process and this is something we are committed to achieving for every family.

 

During the 20-21 academic year some of the ways that we have achieved this include:

 

  • Co-ordinating a child centred ‘Summary Assessment Meeting’ for the families of every child or young person undergoing statutory EHC needs assessments. We held 188 SAM meetings during the 20-21 academic year.
  • Holding regular drop in clinics where a member of the team is on hand to offer advice and guidance for parents
  • Completing 99% of new assessments for EHC plans within the 20 week statutory timeframe. This has meant that children and young people’s needs have been assessed in a timely way and that families are not waiting for long periods to receive an EHC plan.
  • Gathering feedback from families to share with a multi-agency team who moderate the quality of EHCPs
  • Continuing to have low numbers of SEND tribunals because we work with parents to find coproduced resolutions. This is supported by robust independent and impartial advice and guidance from our local SENDIASS and mediation services.

 

We also have feedback surveys in place for families who have experienced the EHC assessment and annual review processes. Data from these surveys is regularly analysed and parent comments shared with senior leaders, our local parent carer forum (Parents 4 Change) and our new Parent Partnership.

 

As part of these surveys, we are able to see that:

 

90% of families are consistently satisfied with the EHC assessment process. One parent told us; “I have been given the opportunity to give my views and these have been taken into account. The EHCP process has been positive”.

 

83% of families are satisfied with the EHC Annual Review process. Improving the experiences of the annual review process for families is a priority for the SEND Team. There has been some progress with this as one parent told us that it was a “very easy process and much quicker this year than past years to get the draft and final EHCP… a massive improvement from the service”.

 

To help us with this, we would like to encourage all parents to take up the invite and share their experiences of the EHC Assessment and Annual Review processes with us. We know that by listening carefully to feedback, and working collectively with families, we can continue to make further positive change towards achieving the culture of coproduction that we are all aiming for. 

 

 

Page last reviewed: 23/12/2022

Actions

Save to My Shortlist
Tweet
Share on Facebook
Share on WhatsApp
Is this information correct?
Skip back to top of page